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Sam Elliott
Elliott at the Veterans Day Ceremonies at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, November 2001
Born	Samuel Pack Elliott August 9, 1944 (1944-08-09) (age 65) Sacramento, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1968–present
Spouse(s)	Katharine Ross (1984–present)

Samuel Pack "Sam" Elliott (born August 9, 1944) is an American actor. In films, he is often characterized by his rangy physique, thick horseshoe moustache and distinctively gruff speaking voice.

Early life

Elliott was born in Sacramento, California, to a physical training instructor mother and a father who worked for the Department of the Interior.^[1] He moved from California to Oregon with his family during his teenage years, where he graduated from David Douglas High School in Portland. He attended Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, where he completed a two-year program. During that time Elliott tried out for and got a leading role in "Guys and Dolls". The local newspaper suggested that Elliott should be a professional actor. Soon after, Elliott got the acting bug and declared he was going to Hollywood to become a star. Elliott is a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the California State University, Los Angeles. He worked in construction while studying acting in Los Angeles. Elliott also lived for a short time in Princeton, West Virginia.

Career

Elliott began his career as a character actor, his appearance and bearing ideally suited for Westerns.

One of his first film roles was as 'Card Player #2' in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).

During 1970-71, Elliott starred as Doug Robert in the hit TV series Mission: Impossible and later played a wife killer in the miniseries Murder in Texas (1981) and A Death in California (1986). He has made guest appearances on shows such as Felony Squad, Gunsmoke, Lancer and Hawaii Five-O and has been featured in many TV movies; for instance, he played Wild Bill Hickock in Buffalo Girls (1995). In 1998, Elliot was named the grand marshall of the Calgary Stampede parade and rode in the procession before 300,000 spectators.

Elliott has performed voice-over narration for various commercials. He has lent his voice to campaigns for Chevy, IBM, Union Pacific, and, most notably, took over as the voice of the American Beef Council after Robert Mitchum died. In 2007, Toyota hired Elliott to perform voice-overs for the new Toyota Tundra truck commercials, playing on the rich and gravelly delivery of his voice.^[2] Since late 2007, Elliot has done voice-overs for Coors Beer, bringing his deep, rich voice and "western" appeal to the beer brewed in Colorado. He has also starred in Roadhouse alongside Patrick Swayze and played Virgil Earp in Tombstone, which starred Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer.

Elliott also co-starred in We Were Soldiers, which is based on the book We Were Soldiers Once… And Young, portraying Sgt. Maj. Basil L. Plumley. He also played General John Buford in the 1993 film Gettysburg, which is based on the book Killer Angels by Michael Shaara.

He played "The Stranger", a cameo role in The Big Lebowski (1998).

In 2009, Elliott had a small role in Up In The Air, in which he portrayed the Captain of an American Airlines jet. Elliot had previously appeared in Thank You For Smoking which was also directed by Jason Reitman.

Personal life

Elliott has been married to actress Katharine Ross since 1984. Although Ross starred in the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in which Elliott had a very small role, the two did not meet and begin dating until 1978 when they both starred with Roger Daltrey in The Legacy. He and Ross have a daughter, Cleo Rose, born September 17, 1984.

Filmography

References

External links

• Sam Elliott at the Internet Movie Database
• A Tribute to Sam Elliott, fansite
• Where have you gone, Grizzly Adams?, a Los Angeles Times article on the Sam Elliott cowboy stereotype